April 01, 2004

Portable ZIP codes: April Fool's parody

I was on my way home from the Chambers Farm Gathering -- too much work to do to stay longer than it took to drop off Sarah -- when I heard a story about how the Post Office was going to follow cell phone companies' lead and offer portable ZIP codes. I thought it was ridiculous, and was trying to figure out how it would work, when towards the end, the NPR story said:

The new vanity zip code feature is only the latest addition to the Go Postal program, which began last April 1. USPS officials say Go Postal has already been a success, with millions of dollars of new revenue coming from the introduction of pop-up ads on postage stamps. They are hoping to issue the first portable zip codes by April 1, 2005.

I was pretty sure it was an April Fools' joke, so I looked it up when I got home and was pleased to find the whole Portable Zip Codes story online. According to the sidebars, All Things Considered does this every year. Previous stories include Shellac, the Sound of the Future, Universal Pet Health Care, and Projecting Ads on the Moon. I'll have to make a point of listening next year.

Technorati tags: post office | zip codes | portable zip codes | parody | april fool | april fools | vanity | vanity zip codes |

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Posted by roadnick at April 1, 2004 10:32 PM | TrackBack

Comments

I %^*&()$ing HATE April Fool's day. Its like the day of the year where you can't believe anything. I'm quite peeved at NPR for doing that. Sure, its all in the name of fun, but I listened to the end of the article and *still* didn't hear a disclaimer. Frankly, I think that's irresponsible...

Posted by: B at April 2, 2004 08:35 AM

It was a tad irresponsible, and no, there wasn't a disclaimer, as far as I can tell. I expected something as simple as "Listeners will please note today's date," but oh well. Maybe it's a lesson to us that we shouldn't believe everything we hear just because the media says it. :)

Posted by: Nick at April 2, 2004 10:09 AM
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